Tree WIP

[Squirrelborg]

Hi, I guess it's been a while since I've posted anything.

I started this tree yesterday, and I'm not quite sure where to go with it.



Should I go in and detail in individual leaves? Leave it as it is? Do I have my light source defined well enough?

Thanks.


P.s. I just noticed some bark that needs a bit of work, I'll go back and fix that.

[PASSOUT]

The bark almost looks like it  was scribbled in.The grass is very well done.

[Squirrelborg]

Ok, I've done a bit of work on the bark (ok, re-did it entirely).



Better?


[edit] Eh, well now the crummy light source for the leaves stands out a bit better for me. 

[JJ Naas]

References...



The stem of the tree is way too huge compared to the small amount of leaves and branches it carries, unless it's meant to be a decorative, heavily mutilated garden tree.

The leaves seem quite good, except the blue in the shadows is a bit too obviously blue. Too bright and saturated, maybe.

[Squirrelborg]

Hmm, good point about the amount of leaves. I guess I'd better work on that.


The blue is bright and saturated? I think I'd better look at this on a different monitor. It looks like a nearly-black green on my screen.

[EyeCraft]

Yeah the blue really glows on my monitor, I say kick the saturation down a bit and definitely kill the value a little. Same goes for the shadow tones on the trunk, too. As for the amount of leaves to trunk ratio, maybe reduce the size of the trunk? Unless you want to be dealing with a huge canvas size, and most pixellers don't like that  .

The shading of the leaves could be worked to reveal more form to the tree, also. As it stands, it looks a little bit flat. I know the reference picture has a similarly flat kind of shading to it, but basing your form on a more spherical shape should make the tree 'pop' more, I reckon.

All over this piece there's a LOT of stray/noisy pixels that seem to fight against the form of the piece. Tone down the texture, boost the shading/forms, up the contrast by dropping the shadows, then once the piece really pops, work the texture in. That is my suggestion. 

[PypeBros]

Ok, I've done a bit of work on the bark (ok, re-did it entirely).



Better?


[edit] Eh, well now the crummy light source for the leaves stands out a bit better for me. 

Your trunk is definitely better, imho. There are still odd things with the leaves, but i cannot tell out what. Maybe the feeling that you have just wandered your brush along a dark larger area ...

Btw, you could improve a bit more your trunk (especially near the roots) by having something like light-shaded-light-shaded rather than just light-shaded along the whole tree (which somehow gives the feeling that the trunk is made of two "flat" panels of wood rather than a round trunk)

[Squirrelborg]

Ok, I think I have my monitor settings a bit better now.

I'm reworking the top entirely, so once I get a little farther in that I'll post the update.

EyeCraft: I just went ahead and increased the canvas size to fit in the rest of the tree. I figure it's always good to know how to do larger pieces in case someone wants a splash screen down the road or something.

PypeBros: I think I get what you're saying about the trunk shading. I'll see what I can do about that.


[edit] I just had something come up that'll take up most of my spare time for a while. I'll finish this after its taken care of. Thanks everyone.